NASS Mulls Death Penalty For Vandals Of National Assets

National Assembly (NASS) is preparing a bill that will recommend the death penalty for vandals of national assets across the country.

Senator Adamu Aliero, a former minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and a current senator from Kebbi State, revealed this.

Speaking to journalists on the issue of vandalism and what the National Assembly is doing to curtail it, the former Kebbi State governor said the members of the National Assembly were concerned about the continued vandalism of national assets such as power installations, railway tracks and airport facilities, among others, and are looking at a bill that will stipulate the death penalty for any vandalism.

According to him, “On the issue of vandalism. You see, it is miserable that it is not only the rail line that has been vandalised. As you rightly know, power installations, airport installations, oil and gas installations, and bridges have been vandalised.

“The National Assembly is considering developing robust legislation to make it criminal. If possible, the punishment for any vendor caught sabotaging public infrastructure should be the death penalty. Probably, if that happens, it will go a long way in reducing vandalisation drastically.”

Also speaking to journalists on the issue of vandalism of national assets, a member of the House of Representatives, Honorable Blessing Onuh, called for installing an anti-theft mechanism to stop people from vandalising assets.

It should be noted that recently, the Nigeria Police Force paraded some vandals with a truckload of railway tracks stolen from the narrow gauge line across the country.

Also, the minister of transportation, Alkali S’aid, attributed recent train derailments to vandals who have been tampering with the rail lines.

Reacting to the vandals’ activities, he said, “The ministry and, of course, the Nigerian Railway Corporation are working hard to ensure that these vandals do not destroy our properties.

We are deploying major surveillance with security agencies to ensure these properties cannot be vandalised.”